About NIEM

The National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) is a common vocabulary that enables efficient information exchange across diverse public and private organizations. NIEM connects communities of people who share a common need to exchange information in order to advance their mission.

NIEM Enables a Common Understanding

If I say "vessel" and you say "boat", and he says "ship" and she says "conveyance", we may mean the same thing, but we have no way to tell our computer systems to treat the words as having the same meaning. Until we do, we'll all have separate facts about the same world—pieces of the big puzzle—but no common understanding or way to connect them.

This is the idea behind NIEM. It lets your system and my system speak—even if they've never spoken before—by ensuring that information carries the same consistent meaning across various communities.

Rather than starting from scratch, NIEM can save organizations time and money by providing consistent, reusable, and repeatable data terms, definitions, and processes.

What is NIEM?

NIEM is a reference model

Elements are to a reference model as words are to a dictionary. Think of NIEM as a dictionary of agreed-upon terms, definitions, relationships, and formats that are independent of how information is stored in individual systems. The NIEM model includes community-specific elements, as well as core elements that are commonly agreed to by the communities who use NIEM. For example, common elements in the NIEM core include “person,” “location,” “item,” “organization,” and “activity.”

NIEM is built by the community, for the community

The NIEM community’s shared commitment to interoperability drives the Program forward. NIEM’s active community of users contribute to model content, provide technical assistance and guidance, and offer assets that can be reused to make the development of exchanges faster.

NIEM in action

For over 10 years, NIEM has facilitated information exchanges across a variety of mission spaces and subject areas. What began as a solution for the law enforcement and homeland security communities has since evolved into a wide range of subject matters and areas. For instance, this NEICE video highlights the role NIEM plays every day in child welfare and foster care. Learn more about NIEM's history here.